Monday, July 12, 2010

Sarah Palin Can Win By Being Stupid! WTF?

Here, we see an eager Sarah Palin as she thinks, "Boy! You sure can fool some of the people all of the time."


Greg Sargent's WaPo blog has an interesting post, "Sarah Palin plays media for chumps." It begins with a video of Chuck Todd commenting on MSNBC's "Morning Joe:"

"I hope we don't hear from Sarah Palin about media bias anymore. Because it is amazing the ability this woman has to get media attention with as little as she does, whether it's a Twitter or a Facebook update, and she gets all this atttention."

Sargent then cites a very important article written by Politico, last year:

The dirty secret here is that news orgs hype Palin's Tweets and Facebook missives because they drive clicks and traffic, not because they're newsworthy. Just ask the editors of Politico, which recently told its readers bluntly that Palin and the media have a "symbiotic relationship," because for the media, Palin is good "for the bottom line."

And argues that the attention has been good for her:

Some have argued that the media attention lavished on Palin has actually been a negative for her, as evidenced by her dropping approval ratings. But negative media attention actually plays in her favor. It plays into the narrative she's trying to construct, in which she's a warrior for a latter-day silent majority against pointy-headed eastern elites who are trying to destroy her because she represents the values and concerns of Real America. Negative attention only helps her tighten her emotional grip on her supporters. Palin keeps up the nonstop media bashing in order to feed this narrative.

Whoa! Wait just a minute! The attention has been good for her in the sense that it solidifies her fans' support. The attention hasn't helped her with moderates, independents and democrats, all of whom she must woo in order to be elected. The moment she moves to the middle in an attempt to woo them, her base of support will crumble, and everyone else will doubt her sincerity. Everyone will say she's flip-flopped!


It is interesting, and it can be perplexing. From the perspective of someone seeking web hits, nothing could be better than Sarah Palin acting batsh*t crazy and running for President. Isn't she? What could be more entertaining and controversial?

Today the UK's Guardian ran an article "
Sarah Palin's war chest points to 2012 presidential bid," in which a blogger was cited for writing,

"'She's too stupid' is what the Establishment GOP really thinks about Sarah Palin. 'Good-looking,' but a 'ditz'. This is unfertile ground, since Palin can turn the argument on a dime and say: 'They drive the country into bankruptcy, they underwrite Fannie and Freddie, they bail out Goldman Sachs, they fight wars they don't want to win, they say enforcing the immigration laws is silly and they call me stupid! I'll give you a choice: you can have their smarts or my stupidity, which one do you want?'
A large number of GOP presidential primary voters will take Palin's "stupidity" in a heartbeat." [emphasis added]

Bring on the clowns!

8 comments:

Joie Vouet said...

Is the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill a chump?

**

How far would a $1 Million "war chest" get her in a run for the presidency? Half way through the Iowa?

**

Is there no rebuttal to the blogger's argument on behalf of Sarah Palin: "I'll give you a choice: you can have their smarts or my stupidity, which one do you want?"

Anonymous said...

This guy, did he graduate from the Sarah Palin School of Journalism at the University of Idaho?

Anonymous said...

It's her psychology. Palin thinks Obama is smart and rational, so she must draw a contrast by being stupid and irrational. It's primitive, unconsidered gut reaction.

Anonymous said...

I think MacAskill was having some fun.

Joie Vouet said...

NPR has an interesting article, Palin's Finances Follow A Presidential Pattern.


A year after resigning as governor of Alaska, Republican Sarah Palin has burnished her anti-establishment image. But she's also working through the same White House checklist that any hopeful would have. ...

... SarahPAC's latest financial report, filed over the weekend, shows Palin has a powerful base of small donors, and she's busy doing what prospective presidential candidates usually do — giving campaign cash to candidates who can help her later on. ...

... SarahPAC's activity doesn't necessarily mean that Sarah 2012 is right around the corner. ...

... But there is someone who's definitely got a money campaign for 2012: Mitt Romney.

And by any metric — fundraising, contributions to other Republicans, cash on hand — his numbers are close to double Palin's. ...

Anonymous said...

Does anyone need to rebut the blogger? The "they" he has Sarah refer to is the "Establishment GOP."

Joie Vouet said...

Anonymouse 7:54. Yes. I suppose the "argument" could be used against Democrats, too.

A homework problem!

Underlying the "common sense" crowd's beef with Fannie and Freddie is a belief that the Community Reinvestment Act is responsible for our current real estate woes.

Barry Ritzholtz has done a lot to debunk that "idea." The latest at his blog is here.

Why did Fannie and Freddie need to be bailed out? What would happen to real estate if the government didn't underwrite those agencies' loans?

lilly-lily said...

Place your thumb over the shining chicklet teeth, and you have one goofey looking woman.